CREATING CRAFTS FOR KIDS

Holiday Lake Cake

You'll need: a tray or heavy cardboard, light cardboard, a flat cake, foil, lots of white frosting, a pencil and scissors, 3 large marshmallows, small, round colorful candies, a small candy cane, 3 conical (sugar) ice cream cones, solid color candy sticks, Life Savers, and gumdrops (especially yellow and green), small plastic figures of people (optional).

Find a large tray or cover a heavy piece of cardboard with foil. Make a large, flat cake to place on it. Have your child draw and cut out a wavy circle from cardboard about 1/3 the size of the cake. Cover it with foil, shiny side up and place it in the middle of the cake. This is the holiday lake. Help your child frost all around the lake and down the sides of the cake with store-bought or homemade white frosting. Make it billowy so it looks like snow. Put a few spots of frosting on the "lake."

Use 3 large marshmallows to make a snowman. They can be stuck together with frosting. Use small candies for eyes, mouth, and buttons. Give him a candy cane to hold. Put him near one end of the cake.

Frost 3 sugar ice cream cones with green-tinted frosting. Put them upside down at the other end of the cake for trees.

Put straight, candy sticks (solid color ones) into life savers (for a base) and scatter them around the cake for lights. Put yellow gumdrops on top for the lights. Use green gumdrops for bushes.

Add plastic figures of people in the snow and on the lake.

Enjoy your holiday craft!



North Pole Christmas Tree Ornament

You'll need (for each ornament): a tongue depressor, red and white craft paint, painter's tape (1" wide), small foam paint brushes, heavy white cardboard or a white index card, a black felt pen, red and green construction paper, glue, a small amount of red, white, green, or black yarn, scissors, and a pencil.

Paint the tongue depressor white. Let it dry. Put strips of the tape across the tongue depressor leaving strips of white showing. Paint the stripes red. Let them dry. Remove the tape. Glue the ends of a piece of yarn (3") to the top back of the tongue depressor to hang the ornament by.

Draw a rectangle (1 ½ " by 3") on the cardboard with one pointed end. Cut it out. Neatly write North Pole on it. Trace the words with the black felt pen. Glue the sign to the tongue depressor about 1/3 of the way from the top. Draw 3 red circles for berries on the red construction paper and 2 green leaves on the green construction paper and cut them out. Glue under the North Pole sign to look like holly.

Your North Pole Christmas Tree Ornament is complete!

Take time this year to make a special Christmas or holiday craft with your child!

To create a special Christmas gift, why not make a personalized Christmas stocking?